Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 03:25:21 GMT
Server: NCSA/1.4.2
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<TITLE>Converting an Existing User Interface to Use Constraints</title>
</head>

<body>
<H2>Converting an Existing User Interface to Use Constraints</H2>

<p>

Author: Bjorn Freeman-Benson

<p>

Published in <em>Proceedings of the 1993 ACM Symposium on User Interface
Software and Technology</em>, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1993, pages 207-215.

<P>
<hr>

<H3>Abstract</H3>

Constraints have long been championed as a tool for user interface
construction. However, while certain constraint systems have established a
user community, constraint-based user interfaces have not yet been widely
adopted. The premise of this paper is that a major stumbling block to their
pervasive use has been the emphasis on designing new interface toolkits
rather than augmenting existing ones. The thesis of the work described in
this paper is that it is possible, and practical, to convert an existing
user interface written in an imperative programming language into a similar
user interface implemented with constraints. This thesis is proved by
example: the conversion of HotDraw into CoolDraw.

<P>
<HR>
<P>

Click <!WA0><a href=
"ftp://cs.washington.edu/pub/constraints/papers/cooldraw-uist-93.ps.Z">
here</a> to get the postscript file.

<P>

Return to <!WA1><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/projects/weird/www/index.html">Constraints home page</a>
